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This is gorgeous

Everything here is… hard, and bright, and violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch… this is Hell.

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S6. Ep7. Once More, With Feeling

The only episode of season 6 that Whedon writes or directs, “Once More, With Feeling” is the highest rated episode of the show, and easily the most popular. Nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Direction, unfortunately the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) neglected to include the title on the ballots for Emmy nominations in 2002 (rumor has it that it was Joss’ assistant that forgot to enter it) and attempted to remedy this by mailing a postcard informing its voters that it should be included, but the episode did not win.

Whedon, who has stated this is one of his favorite Buffy episodes, used a widescreen letterboxed format for filming (the only episode in the series to get this treatment), different lighting to bring out the sets more vibrantly, and long takes for shooting—These were designed to give viewers all the clues they needed to establish all the nuances of the relationships between characters. Davies commented that the intricacies of filming this episode were "infinitely more complicated than a regular Buffy" episode, and Whedon stated in the DVD commentary that he was ambitious to prove what television is capable of, saying "it just depends how much you care". -Wikipedia

Whedon commented that he was "obsessive about progressing a plot in a song, about saying things we haven't said", comparing the musical theater format to the fourth-season episode "Hush", in which characters begin communicating when they stop talking. “I actually think of it as a sequel to Hush, because singing is like being quiet. You say the things you wouldn’t otherwise say. So a lot of the emotions were building over the first few episodes of the season, and then they burst out, literally in song.” -Joss

He was adamant that they set up not just the episode, but the rest of the season and the rest of the series.

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💛 Becoming Buffy Podcast is a rewatch podcast that focuses on the themes, metaphors and foreshadowing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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S6. Ep6. All the Way

 “All the Way” is easily the weakest of the three Halloween episodes, with the focus being on Dawn only because the rest of the primary cast was busy getting ready for the next episode, and not because the show wanted to tell us something new about the character. Unfortunately, Dawn’s plot doesn’t even amount to an arc and is only used to reflect the childishness of the Scoobies’ actions.

Typically used as an euphemism for sex, “All the Way” not only refers to Dawn’s romantic encounter with the vampire Justin, but also to Xander’s going all the way with his engagement and impending marriage to Anya, Buffy’s increasing apathy and her search for a distraction in Spike, and Willow crossing a line with her magics. Mark Field points out that this episode serves a structural purpose similar to Bad Eggs, saying, “Bad Eggs had a strong sexual theme because Buffy was about to have sex with Angel in the very next episode. Similarly, “All the Way” sets up some similar events in the next few episodes.”

While this episode contains a more blatant depiction of the biting = sex metaphor, it is also drawing a comparison to the Scoobies’ behaviors by depicting them as juvenile, and therefore vampire-like in their arrested development. Not only that, but the show draws a parallel between Justin and Willow by emphasizing how physically cold they both feel to their respective romantic partners. This highlights Willow’s use of Tara and the other people around her as similar to how a vampire feeds on its victims.

Interestingly, while the episode mainly uses Dawn to show Buffy’s neglect of her responsibilities, her relationship with Justin does reflect a desire to grow up and try more mature things—a complete contrast to the Scoobies in this episode. In the end, she doesn’t succumb to the vampire’s seduction and she stakes him; making her only one of the Scoobies aside from Giles that doesn’t give in to taking the easy way out.

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S6. Ep5. Life Serial

There are a couple different ways to take the title of this episode—first, serial means consecutive or continuous. In Buffy’s case, the never-ending flow of life, and the overwhelming feelings that come with the transition from one thing to the next. It also can be a play on words, with Life being a brand of cereal. Interestingly, this idea was hinted at in “Flooded” when Dawn asks Giles if he’s ever combined a bunch of cereals together to see what they taste like, and him responding that doing that at his age makes him throw up.

This fits with the episode’s narrative of Buffy needing to find purpose in her adult life, and how Giles represents an established adult who doesn’t need to “experiment with cereals” anymore because he knows who he is and what he wants. He contrasts Dawn, who, representing Buffy’s link to her humanity/her childlike self, is still experimenting because she is too young to know who she is or what she wants. Dawn’s eagerness to experiment contradicts Buffy’s disinterest in her own life and highlights the disconnect Buffy feels toward her own humanity/Dawn.

The episode is split into 4 parts or jobs, with each one symbolizing a specific way that Buffy is feeling overwhelmed by life and her inability to fit in. A big message of the episode is social construction and whether individuals are at the mercy of the situations around them, or if they can use those situations to craft their own responses and reactions. For the first time, Buffy is reacting vs acting when it comes to her life—completely without focus, and susceptible to outside influences.

Buffy’s ignoring of Giles (adult) and Dawn (child) these past few episodes, is an interesting way to convey her feelings of being trapped between both worlds. She cannot go back to being a child, and she does not want to be an adult—she is stuck in all aspects of life. And in the Buffyverse, not moving makes you like the undead.

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💛 Becoming Buffy Podcast is a rewatch podcast that focuses on the themes, metaphors and foreshadowing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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While season 6 does a great job of realistically depicting the struggles for people with mental health issues, its biggest flaw is that it never actually acknowledges that this is what Buffy and the Scoobies are dealing with. In only addressing the symptoms and not the core issues that created these problems, the season’s theme of the Scoobies fearing adulthood comes across as oversimplistic and at times, contradictory.

Is Buffy afraid to be an adult because her childhood was so amazing that she wants to be a kid again, or is she actually deeply traumatized from the responsibilities of said childhood…oh, and from being brought back from the dead a week ago? Is Xander’s cold feet over getting married because he doesn’t want to be a responsible adult, or could it be well-established trauma from his family life?

The show has consistently maintained that to be a healthy and well-formed individual, you must be willing to embrace the pain of change and that not doing so is the way of a vampire. Yet in comparing Buffy’s overwhelmed response to household bills with the Trio’s childish avoidance of responsibility through thievery, the show implies that Buffy’s executive dysfunction/depression is a choice, and therefore a character flaw.  

Weirdly enough, the bank scene implies that the show understands that being the Slayer has inhibited Buffy’s ability to be prepared for adulthood, yet it continues to hold her to the same impossible standard. Unfortunately, the show reflects the early 2000’s stigma that if you’re struggling, you’re just not trying hard enough.  

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S6. Ep4. Flooded

While the first three episodes deal primarily with Buffy’s death and resurrection, “Flooded” begins to tackle one of the major themes of season 6: stepping forward into adulthood and moving away from childhood.

The title “Flooded” is a psychology term for a type of exposure therapy in which you must face your fear at a maximum level of intensity for an extended amount of time. There's no avoiding the situation and no attempt on the therapist's part to reduce your anxiety or fear. Each of the Scoobies are depicted as fearful of adult responsibilities, and the fix is to just move forward and face their fears as adults.

Xander is shown to be cautious/afraid of getting married (we aren’t sure yet!) and Anya tells him to grow up. Willow is continuing to ignore the consequences of her foray into dangerous magics and is selfishly only thinking of herself, leading to Giles calling her a foolish girl and a rank, arrogant amateur, the Trio are introduced as the ultimate picture of not wanting to grow up, and then Buffy is being flooded by life and isn’t sure how to handle it.

“In Flooded we were like, you know, the house is a metaphor for all of the adult problems she’ll be dealing with. We both wanted to reflect the tumult of being in your twenties. Even though the show wasn’t as clearly defined by metaphor as it was when we were back in high school, it’s appropriate. The twenties are a much more murky period. I think we both wanted to make sure that it felt very real; that when you get to the age that Buffy and the others were, there’s supposed to be this really strong conflict between that desire on one hand to be young and taken care of and irresponsible, and on the other to really take charge of your own life. Those two things pull you in really different directions. For me—and I think for a lot of people I knew at that age—it’s kind of a war. Sometimes the grown-up is winning and sometimes the kid is winning. That’s what we really wanted to deal with.” -Marti Noxon

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S6. Ep3. After Life

“The episode title “After Life” is a clever play on words and sets up not just this episode, but the rest of Buffy’s journey for this season. Buffy’s journey now is her after life. It’s her life after her original life. Unlike most people, who deem their ‘afterlife’ to be what happens to them when they die, Buffy’s afterlife is her life after death, not her life after life.” -Shangel’s review

“This isn’t some, “Hooray, Buffy’s back, we did it!” moment. (Although later Willow will hubristically say “We did it!” to Buffy, who shoots her a pained look that Willow seems to miss.) This is more of a deflated, “Now what?”—Av Club

A play on After Birth, with Buffy being reborn as an adult after her life as a child, this episode makes it clear that her old life, and the show as we knew it, is dead. “After Life” also begins to hint at this season’s theme of the paralysis of fear, and how it prevents us from growing and moving forward in life. Buffy is stuck somewhere between waking and sleeping—not a child, but not willing to be an adult, Spike’s crypt has furniture and new toys—but the coffins are still there, and the demon refers to the Scoobies (mainly Willow) as little children.

“Once Joss found his hook in the story—that she had been in a good place—he was really committed to the idea that she would not be all cheery when she got back. It’s funny, because although the show is not theological in that way, we finally ran out of excuses. Joss has often said that there is no “heaven as such in the Buffyverse. But if there’s a bad place, there has to be a good place. Maybe it’s not exactly heaven, but there are counterforces to all other forces, and Joss was finally willing to accept that. A recurring theme in Joss’ work and both shows is that life is hard and it’s people’s actions and relationships with each other that make it livable. He’s never said it was a pretty worldview.” -Marti Noxon

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Mark Field talks about how Buffy’s journey since season 1 follows the “hero’s journey” or “monomyth” –the idea that most myths and legends follow a similar outline.

First is the Call to Adventure, so when Giles calls her to her Slayer destiny. Next is the Hero refuses the Call, and we see Buffy do this for pretty much the entirety of season 1. “In order to answer the Call, the Hero gets supernatural aid, which Angel delivers to her in “Welcome to the Hellmouth” in the form of a cross.” Mark Field notes that Angel’s name comes from the Greek word meaning “messenger” and the supernatural implications of his name in this context are “fairly blatant.”

Eventually we get to the stage of Apotheosis, a Greek word which means elevate to divine. This usually involves the death of the Hero…which you could say happens on a smaller scale in “Prophecy Girl” but you really see it in “the Gift.”

 “When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves…to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.” In this case, being in heaven.

“The next two stages consist of the Ultimate Boon and the Refusal of the Return” Fields believes we will see these next two ideas over seasons 6-7 but in reverse order. “The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps sere to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or the holy grail.” But before we get there the Hero must be reluctant to return to the world. “Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.”

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💛 Becoming Buffy Podcast is a rewatch podcast that focuses on the themes, metaphors and foreshadowing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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S6. Ep2. Bargaining Pt. 2

Marti Noxon describes the events of the episode, saying that the destruction Buffy sees is the external manifestation of her own inner turmoil. Disoriented and frightened, with no concept of time, self, or her surroundings, Buffy is forced to claw out of her own grave, watch herself be drawn and quartered, and fight off demons just to stay alive. Everything is loud, bright, and violent…even herself.

Through it all, the viewer becomes increasingly nervous that something is wrong with our heroine, a fact that is verbalized by the Scoobies and not dismissed by the show. The first glimpse of old Buffy is when she steps in to defend her friends, yet even the script says that her response is merely a product of “long dormant instincts”, hinting that her impulses are little more than animal. The sweeping hero shot that normally ends with quipping, simply ends in silence before she runs away.

Buffy’s decision to run to the tower, the “most peaceful of any place she’s been this night” as the script says, symbolizes her desire for clarity. The music from “the Gift” plays, only instead of going into the heroic swell, it becomes wistful and sad as Buffy longs for the certainty and clear headedness of that night.

It is only when she saves Dawn, her link to humanity, that we understand that it truly is Buffy. It is not violence that motivated her to defend her friends or save her sister, but a deep, instinctual love. In that moment she bravely lives for the sister she died to save.

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S6. Ep1. Bargaining Pt.1

Originally conceived as a self-contained episode called “Hell”, Bargaining was split into two episodes at the request of the network, even though both episodes aired the same night. The 2-hour season premiere attracted 7.7 million viewers, the second-highest viewership the show has ever received, behind only “Innocence.”

Not only does this episode mark Buffy’s debut on UPN, but it is also the first episode to not feature Anthony Stewart Head in the opening titles as a main cast member. From now on, he will be credited as a “Special Guest Star.”

Entitled “Bargaining” after one of the five stages of grief, the title reflects how Willow and the Scooby gang seek to bypass the grief process and bring Buffy back to life…a concept that foreshadows one of the core themes of the season.

In a lot of ways, this episode represents a sort of rebranding or rebirth of the series. Not only is the show now on a new network, but the entire underlying metaphor of adolescence is no longer applicable after the events of “The Gift.” While seasons 1-5 had Buffy and the Scoobies facing monsters that represented their inner demons, season 6 will have them confronting a whole different kind of monster—themselves. From here on out the show is never quite the same.

Listen to our full episode analysis of "Bargaining pt. 1" on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you stream your pods.

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Music, sound and silence calls this “perhaps the most moving music from the entire series….as much as or more than anywhere else, the dramatic context demands a dynamic instrumental music capable of reflecting both the personal and the epic aspects of this event.”

They go on to describe the more technical reasons for why this piece is so moving:

1.           Slow tempo with a strong-weak pattern between the melody and the rest of the accompaniment which makes the music sound like work, like it’s toiling.

2.           The pattern motivates the memory and imagination, allowing us to focus on what’s happening while also allowing us to feel all the things. There’s a lot of syncopation and tension.

3.           It gives us the sense of being pulled inevitably and irresistibly forward, as ‘the continuity of the melody invites a feeling of continuous, sustained effort.” The music sounds like plodding/stepping forward is requiring a lot of effort, yet something is always driving us forward. “The stepwise motion of the accompaniment, especially the bass also motivates a sense of striving.”

4.           “The music emphasizes instability and generates a desire for a return to stability.” And this creates that sense of longing that we feel so deeply in the music.

5.           The solo piano is simple and gentle, cutting out all the ambient sounds so that we focus on Buffy and Dawn “and invites a kind of covert participation” between us and them. The orchestra joining in invokes a movie score feel, similar to Becoming. “When the full orchestra enters in the third phrase, the music gradually expands, adding more participants or musical performers) and thereby becoming a massive utterance: the swelling voice of many speaking as one.” The piano’s solo, simple melody starts out when Buffy is figuring it all out, the harmony chimes in as she turns to talk to Dawn, and then the oboe, and it’s only when she turns and starts running towards the end of the platform that you get the orchestral swell. I like how the order of the instruments and number seems to emphasize that this sacrifice is first for Dawn, or her other half, and then for the world.

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In fiction, houses and rooms are often used to symbolize the mental and emotional state of the person(s) that occupy them. Buffy’s childhood home is bright and warm, full of colors that reflect joy and sunlight. Little Buffy’s passing of the doll to Willow as she runs to meet her baby sister for the first time is a formative memory even if it’s not real, as it’s the first time Buffy took care of something—even before she took care of the world.

Dawn and Joyce’s room symbolize Buffy’s guilt, hopelessness, and even resignation, as she truly believes that death is all she is. The grass and tombstone in Joyce’s room resemble the graveyard that she frequents on her patrols, and the Magic Shop represents her desire to lay down her burden as the Slayer—to give up her gift.

Interestingly, while the Summers’ hallway is shown several times, the transition to the Magic Box is only shown once, when Willow finally begins to break through to Buffy. It marks a deviation in Buffy’s spiraling thoughts, as the two girls pass through a doorway that was previously shut.

Doorways, portals, gateways and the like, represent death, rebirth, escape, and new horizons. They are a symbol of transition as one moves from the safe and comfortable “known”, to the fear and uncertainty of the “unknown”. Buffy lingers in the hallway, while Ben chooses his future in the alleyway.

Interestingly, the Roman god Janus, (the god Ethan Rayne worshipped in ‘Halloween’, an episode all about growing up and becoming your true self) was the one who held the key to the doors and gateways of transitions.

"Janus is portrayed with two faces—one facing the past, and one facing the future. He also holds a key in his right hand, which symbolizes his protection of doors, gates, thresholds, and other separations or openings between spatial boundaries. In ancient Rome, the symbol of the key also signified that a traveler has come to find safe harbor.” -Andersonlock.com

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S5. Ep21. The Weight of the World

“Probing. That's how I'd describe "The Weight of the World." In what seems like padding and a calm before the storm, there is actually a lot of fascinating dialogue if you pay close attention. This is no action extravaganza or even traditional build-up, but rather an episode built on ideas and choices. Buffy faces a choice to remain in her catatonic state and disappear into a world of guilt and pain. Ben faces a choice of whether or not to kill Dawn to save himself. The Scoobies must choose what to do next now that their group is damaged and Dawn is gone. In the midst of all of these choices are the ideas which bind it all together. Ideas involving the true extent of humanity's insanity and the fight that goes on within each one of us. I love episodes that give me a lot to think about and this one delivers, hence my love of it.” -Critically Touched

‘The Weight of the World’ is all about the classic “Despair Event Horizon” trope where the Hero has lost all hope and must be rallied. Weary, wrung out, and devoid of hope, Buffy’s temptation is to shut out her human emotions—hardening herself against the pain.

Interestingly, not many reviewers seem to like this episode, calling it repetitive and boring with too much filler. While it may not be action packed, ‘TWOTW’ is extremely important for both this season and the series overall, and I would argue that the events that unfold in ‘the Gift’ would not have played out as well if it weren’t for this episode. The weight Buffy carries is the culmination of everything that has happened to her since she first became the Slayer, and this episode takes a moment to acknowledge and sit with this. To ignore or breeze past the heaviness of Buffy’s burden would be to minimize the cost of everything that she has sacrificed.

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With the privilege of free will and choice comes the responsibility of being an active participant in one’s own life. As Buffy once told Ford in ‘Lie to Me’, you don’t have a good choice, but you do have a choice. We’ve seen this theme modeled every season, from Angel, to Faith, to Riley, and now with Ben. The show has used these and many other characters to highlight Buffy’s own decision to get up and sacrifice her normal existence for the fight against the underworld. She may not have a good choice, but she has one, and it is in this act of choosing that she retains her sense of autonomy.

While Riley and Spike were used to contrast Buffy in the earlier part of season 5, the show now shifts its focus onto Ben. Caught in a life that he didn’t ask for, Ben’s situation is similar to both Dawn and Buffy’s, yet his response (or lack thereof) is telling. Practically frozen in fear and indecision, the one major decision he’s made all season was to unleash the Queller demon to kill all the mental patients. Whether in an attempt to make his job at the hospital easier or to deflect attention from Glory/himself, Ben’s choice hints at a selfishness that clearly contrasts Buffy and even Dawn.

While not quite innocent, Ben is presented multiple opportunities, to do something; many of them in this episode. Yet at each step, his fear gets in the way, and he chooses to do nothing—allowing his fate to be dictated by forces and people apart from himself. All season long we have criticized the writers for how boring and sometimes pointless Ben is, but maybe that’s the point. His character stagnation is meant to literally illustrate a life that is empty of meaning and purpose.  

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“Which innocent do you kill to save the universe?

Ben was the innocent human infant created as a vessel for the hellgod Glorificus. He did not ask for this fate; he wants to live a normal life--in particular, become a doctor who saves people's lives. But Glory is fated to die with Ben unless she can escape him. Kill Ben, and you kill Glory.

Dawn is the innocent human who resulted when the monks transformed the Key-energy into flesh. If Glory uses the Key, billions will die. If the Key is destroyed, this fate will be averted.

The solution to the problem is simple either kill Ben and Glory dies, or kill Dawn and the key can't be used.... The problem with the simplicity of the solutions is that we then have to deal with conscience, on the part of Ben and Buffy. The Knights seem to have no problem killing a little girl to solve the problem as they see it as a step to save the world. Then you have to consider the fact that they have had no contact with Dawn and have no emotional ties. Ben wants to live, preferably at the expense of Glory. But after meeting and getting to know both Summers girls, can he kill Dawn? Then if you kill Ben to get to Glory can Buffy do the deed when Ben is basically innocent(mostly). ...how do you choose? Who is the sacrifice to save the world?” -All Things Philosophical

Mark Field says: “There’s no reason to limit the moral issues to Buffy. What’s Ben’s ethical obligation? If you were in his shoes, would you feel obligated to unalive yourself to prevent Glory from going back home? And if you think Ben has the obligation to save the world by destroying himself, what then would you say of Dawn? If either of both have the obligation to destroy themselves, is it therefore Buffy’s obligation to help them do so? To prevent them from doing so?”

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S5. Ep20. Spiral

Between the Knights and the Winnebago, ‘Spiral’ might be the most ridiculous episode of the season, yet despite this, it manages to raise the stakes even higher, give us key information about Glory, Ben, and Dawn, and ask some incredibly difficult moral questions.

In a way, the ridiculousness is fitting for where Buffy is at this point in the season. Burdened by responsibility and out of her mind with fear, Buffy is spiraling, and this is reflected in her poor choices, lack of a plan, and by everything falling apart. It’s all too much for her, so she chooses to run away, which metaphorically represents Buffy’s fear and avoidance of adulthood.

But the most interesting aspect of the episode is the moral dilemma that Buffy and Ben find themselves in: kill innocent Dawn, or risk the whole world and their own lives.

The Knight’s solution is an example of the narrow minded and Utilitarian view that the Watchers hold to, and that Buffy has railed against since season 1—the individual doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things, and it is always better to sacrifice the one for the many. It is this mindset that created the Slayer, and it is this mindset that leads the Knights to justify the killing of an innocent.

'Buffy' has always been a series about destiny and free will, and the religious symbolism of the Knights are a stand-in for “god”/destiny. Buffy herself has always understood the incredible importance of the individual and their ability to choose. This season is about Buffy trying to save Dawn, but it’s also about Buffy struggling with the unfairness of having to sacrifice everything she wants for a life chosen for her—just like Ben and Dawn. For Buffy, the individual will always matter.

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Buffy’s decision to drop out of college is an obvious one at this point in her life, as she is now the primary guardian of her sister Dawn. However, the show uses this moment to reinforce the underlying, series-long strain of Buffy’s slaying life on her human life. While every season has shown the countless ways in which Buffy has sacrificed normalcy for her calling, season 5 deals with the fear that these sacrifices have irrevocably hardened and changed her. While ‘Tough Love’ shows Buffy’s resentment of Dawn (her connection to her humanity), and hints at the callousness that is creeping in, it also gives us a glimpse of the girl we’ve known and loved for 5 seasons.

In season 1’s ‘Never Kill a Boy on the First Date,’ Buffy is forced to break up with poetry-loving Owen when she realizes that the life she leads would get him killed. It is her first, big sacrifice of the series, and the beginning of the tension between girl and slayer.

Then of course there is Angel, the biggest symbol of her desire for a normal life. In ‘Helpless’, Buffy gets a taste at what life would be like without her powers and worries that “Buffy the girl” is not enough. In a touching moment, Angel gifts her a book of poetry and reassures her that his love for her is because of who she is, not because of what she can do.

All season long we have discussed the many references to Gatsby’s “green light” and how Dawn represents hope, rest, and fulfilled dreams for not only Glory, but for Buffy. She is the inner girl that Buffy works so hard to protect from the hardships of life yet is tempted to resent for the softness and emotion that she brings. This moment in class reassures us that deep down, Buffy is still that girl, as she longs for the day when she can go to college, be with Angel, and enjoy a book of poems—or as she says it, when “I’m more myself again.”